The wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Ho Ching, has weighed in on the statement by the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) about a Presidential candidate who has a "history of objectifying women".
AWARE had highlighted what it called a "systemic" issue: The granting of a certificate of eligibility by the Presidential Elections Committee to the candidate.
In a Facebook post put up on Aug. 22, Ho said if there are concerns about the eligibility of a candidate based on grounds of improper conduct, or moral rectitude, such matters can be raised with the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) before it carries out the review of the candidate's application for a Certificate of Eligibility.
Whether the PEC will accept submissions on such concerns is a separate matter, and their prerogative, she added.
Ho highlighted:
"When nominations are opened, and we are aware of some supposed flaw, that is the time for us to write in to the PEC. Not yowl after the PEC has completed its review."
People are free to campaign against candidate but don't "whine" about the PEC
Ho added that when candidates submit their applications for a Certificate of Eligibility, it is not only documents for their claims of eligibility, based on public service, private sector experience or track record which are submitted.
Apart from having proposers, seconders, and assentors to support their applications, the potential candidate must also submit character references with names to vouch for his or her own character.
As the situation currently stands, members of the public who are uncomfortable with posts about "pretty girls" are free to campaign against the candidate just as the candidate is free to campaign for themselves to canvas votes, she said.
Ho elaborated:
"So AWARE can make its views known in the same channels where they found the posts which they find offensive. Just don’t whine about the PEC and subjective standards of moral rectitude."
Behaviours which are neither criminal nor chargeable are beyond PEC's scope
Ho added that the PEC's job is done once it has issued the Certificate of Eligibility.
It is not the committee's job to search for posts that the candidates might have put up, she said.
In addition, the PEC's endorsement is not a proclamation of the honesty or goodness of a person.
Rather, the committee can look at whether there is clear evidence of misconduct mostly within the boundaries of the law and not from "some religious or other moral lenses" outside the law, she said.
The PEC may only review its decision when the candidate engages in criminal behaviour such as murder or something particularly "unseemly", such as "being found drunk and stark naked on the steps of the National Gallery on Monday morning", Ho explained.
If the candidate has also been involved in some court or legal disciplinary processes, these would also be taken into account, she said.
Otherwise, behaviours which are not criminal or chargeable are beyond the scope of the PEC to make a moral pronouncement, according to the prime minister's wife.
Up to candidates to vote a womaniser out
She clarified:
"Suppose a candidate is a womaniser, and loves the high life.
It is not for the PEC to pronounce that the candidate is unfit, if there had been no formal charges for some criminal misconduct like fraud, lying under oath, cheating, molest, etc."
Ho then said in the case of such a candidate, it is up to the voters to ultimately decide on the candidate’s suitability by voting him in or out.
If we choose a candidate who likes to ogle at girls, it says something about ourselves to the world
This led to Ho's next point that it is important to encourage eligible "good and credible" candidates to think seriously about standing.
"Otherwise, we may end up having to choose from among the inadequate and the insufferable, as has happened in other countries," she said.
Should a good politically unaffiliated candidate win, it will encourage more of the eligible "high quality unaffiliated" candidates to seriously consider sacrificing their privacy to do a "service for the nation" by standing and offering good real choices, she said.
It also sends a signal, both domestically and internationally, that Singaporeans are beginning to think of the Presidential role beyond the "narrow lens" of being for or against the government.
If a minority candidate wins, it will also encourage other good minority candidates to come forward even if other candidates are from the majority race, Ho added.
It will also send a signal that Singapore is on the way to becoming a multiracial society that can overcome the tribalism of race.
In the case of ogling, Ho said:
"Ogling at girls in and of itself is human nature.
After all, we all enjoy good looking things, whether shiny baubles or rippling 6-pack abs, a beautiful dancer, male or female, or cute little babies."
Ho also highlighted:
"If we choose a candidate who enjoys ogling at girls, we also say something about ourselves to ourselves and to the world."
"Unfair" to ask PEC to be a morality police
Ho then concluded by saying that it is unfair to ask the PEC to be a morality police.
She said while those like AWARE, who may think it is unseemly to post about pretty girls, have every right to campaign against a particular candidate, the elections should be kept "gentlemanly" and thoughtful.
Top Left photo via Ho Ching/Facebook, right photo via AWARE/Facebook